Epilepsy drugs and birth defects

Pregnant women suffering from epilepsy need to be better informed about the risks of birth defects due to treatment used to control seizures. Epilepsy is a neurological disorder that affects about 25 million women worldwide. It makes people vulnerable to seizures and is caused by excessive stimulation of the nerve cells in the brain. It can strike at any age. The risk of serious birth defects such as a small head or stunted growth from anti-epileptic drugs (AEDs) is about 2 to 3 percent, but a study of pregnancy registers showed it can be much higher with an older treatment.

Researchers from the Boston University Schools of Medicine and Public Health, USA, did a study of pregnancy registers of 2,637 women in Britain where they found that women taking lamotrigine (GlaxoSmithKline) or carbamazepine, the risk of serious birth defects of was 2.1 and 2.3 percent. But it increased to 5.9 percent in women taking the generic drug valproic acid. A North American pregnancy register of 3,400 women showed a 7.3 percent risk of birth defects with the generic drug and 2.8 percent with the other treatments. The researchers concluded that the findings of the study are important because they can help doctors make more informed treatment decisions, but felt that more data is needed.